so ive been licensed about 3 years now and mostly just done local stuff and some HF here and there but lately ive been getting more into chasing DX and honestly its kind of addictive. last weekend i worked a station in Heard Island during a pileup and just about lost my mind waiting to get the call confirmed, that was a rush i wasnt expecting.

anyway i want to start actually pursuing DXCC properly and im a little confused about how the credit system works. like i understand the basic concept — 100 confirmed entities — but do i need to submit paper QSLs for everything or can i just use LoTW for all of it now? and what about entities that are really hard to get a card from, is there any kind of waiver or alternative process for those. also is it worth going after WAS and WAZ at the same time or should i just focus on one thing. i dont want to spread myself too thin but i also feel like a lot of the contacts overlap anyway so maybe it makes sense to just track everything from the start.

running an IC-7300 into a trapped vertical in the backyard, nothing fancy, but ive been surprised how far i can get on 20 and 17.

LoTW is absolutely the way to go for DXCC credits these days, most serious DX operators upload there regularly and the ARRL processes it all automatically once you link your account. you still need paper QSLs from some entities that just never adopted LoTW but honestly for the first hundred or so confirmed youll probably get there mostly through electronic confirmations. the tricky ones like some of those rare Pacific entities might need cards but cross that bridge when you come to it.

on the WAS and WAZ question — yes, start logging everything now with the intent of tracking all three. the contact data is the same, you just need different confirmations depending on the award. WAZ is only 40 zones which sounds easy but some of those zones are genuinely hard to fill, zone 2 up in the arctic regions can take ages to snag depending on the solar cycle. with the 7300 and a vertical you should be fine for the bulk of them though, that radio punches well.

yeah same boat here kind of, i started tracking DXCC about a year ago and wish someone had told me earlier to just log everything carefully from day one. i lost credit for a few contacts early on because i wasnt uploading to LoTW consistently and then lost touch with some of the operators who could have confirmed via paper.

one thing i'll add — look into Club Log too, lots of expeditions these days upload directly there and you can match your log against expedition logs which is super handy when the pileup was chaos and you're not sure if the contact actually made it in. heard island is a great one to have in the log by the way, congrats on that